Angelic Days
by enIIgma-chan
Summary: A modern time story about love, friendship, betrayal and finding oneself. A/U Plz read and review! Chapter four is up!
1. Chapter 1

**Claymore - Angelic days**

Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore and the characters in the story.

A/N: The story takes place in a modern time. No awakened beings and yoma are in the story, just your average tale about personal experiences of love, friendship, betrayal and finding oneself.

xXxXx

Chapter one

A piece of cake.

That was his first assumption anyway when Raki - a freshmen of Rabona High decided to carry out his confession to the girl he seriously had a crush on. But capitalizing on it now seems difficult. For the past week he kept himself busy, writing love letters in the safe confines of his room. Raki, however, always found himself discarding them, after coming to a conclusion they weren't good enough to be presented to the girl he secretly liked.

It took him a week to write the perfect love letter and god knows how many rough drafts he'd thrown away. Sure, for her to accept his feelings in return wasn't all that decent due to the fact of her being extremely popular with the male students at school but he should at least let her know of his feelings right? If it doesn't work out, then it was meant to be.

Priscilla was known to turn down her suitors left and right which Raki didn't mind being the twentieth or the fiftieth person if it were to happen. What mattered he was willing to go out his way and let her know how he felt, other than doing nothing. It took a lot of courage for a person to convey their feelings to that special someone and getting it off your shoulders would be a huge relief.

So here he was, standing on the rooftop of the school building and waiting for Priscilla to arrive. He left her a note in her locker this morning and told her to meet him on the rooftop during lunchtime. Raki heard the door opened and got a visual of her walking out. He noticed Priscilla holding his note in her left hand as he made his way to greet her.

"Thanks for coming, Priscilla. It really means a lot."

Priscilla was startled. "Raki?! You scared me."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"What was it, you wanted to see me for?"

Raki gently grabbed her hand, making her blush. "I want you to accept this love letter that I wrote," he said. "I've been writing it and re-writing it for a whole week, so please if you could, read it okay? This is actually my first time giving a letter to the person I like and--"

"I'm sorry, Raki but I can't accept this." Priscilla hesitated for a moment. "I like someone else and I'm going to let him know about it soon. Once more I am sorry."

He closed his eyes briefly and smiled. "It's okay. I understand and I hope it goes well for you, Priscilla."

"Thank you, Raki. You're really sweet and kind. I'm sure there's someone out there for you."

Just like that, she came and went like the wind. Leaving behind a feeling of emptiness inside a young man's beating heart. So this is how it feels huh? He thought absentmindedly. The feeling of getting rejected... Raki glanced at the letter, wondering what to do with now since it's purpose was no longer needed. The school bell ranged throughout the building, letting the students know lunchtime was over and classes were resuming.

The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful to say the least and it was time for him to go home since he wasn't part of any clubs at school. He was more in the 'go straight home' club and he liked being in that one. There was a time, when he wanted to join a sports club like basketball, baseball, swimming, track and field or even footbball but he never got around to it because his aunt told him getting excellent grades was the correct way to go. Raki's mother didn't really agree and encourage him to pursue whatever interested him. She rarely told him what to do because she had the utmost trust in Raki and didn't want to intrude in her son's life.

"Mom. I'm back from school."

"Welcome home, son. I made some cookies, do you want some?" A voice said from the kitchen.

"No. I think I'll pass on the cookies this time, but maybe later?" He placed his backpack on the sofa and went upstairs to his room.

"That's odd. He never says no to my freshly baked cookies." Raki's mother said, leaning out from the kitchen.

"It's probably because you're finally losing your touch in making cookies Rafaela," Another voice chimed in.

"Don't be absurd, sis. Something must've happened, I'm worried."

"Like what?" Luciela questioned her sister.

"I don't know."

Luciela wanted to know what it was and her eyes suddenly fell upon Raki's backpack. A smile appeared, then took a big bite out of the cookie. "Hmm..."

Raki was sitting in his chair in front of the computer and stared at the ceiling while his hands were interlock behind his head, reflecting on today's confession failure. He reached into his pocket to get the letter out. But to his dismay, it wasn't in there and abruptly got to his feet.

It's not here? No way. Then it must be in my-- he stopped his train of thought and quickly went out the room to retrieve his backpack he left on the sofa in the living room. Raki was mid-way down the flight of stairs, when he saw it securely held by Luciela with a triumphant look on her face.

Raki's heart skipped a beat. "Aunt Lucy."

"Well, hello boy. You seem certainly vigorous at the moment. I must say, I wonder why?"

"Can I have my backpack back please?"

"Oh. You mean this, boy?" She patted the backpack softly. "I'm not going to lie but quite a predicament you're in since I now know the complete truth."

Raki paled and took a step back. "You read it didn't you?"

She threw him a lopsided grin and sighed. "My, I wonder."

"That wasn't very nice of you, Aunt Lucy." Raki's voice was a little shaky. "It was meant to be read by the person addressed to and that person was Priscilla."

"Say what you want boy, but all that I see is the hilarity in it." Luciela laughed lightly.

Raki clenched his fists, trying his best not to snap at her. He loved his Aunt Lucy dearly but she sometimes did things that were way too extreme like meddling in other people's businesses and liked intimidating others. It's probably because she was a member of the board of directors of a successful business firm and was a woman of great power.

"I'm going out." He finally said. Raki felt like yelling; he choked the feeling back. "Tell my mother that I went to my friend Cid's house okay?"

As soon as Raki said what he wanted to say, Luciela realized she had made a mistake by messing with him. His face showed great disappointment and full of hurt. So much that he wanted out of the house and far way from her if possible. This was actually the first time she'd seen such a face. Luciela was used to seeing him smiling and optimistic.

"Raki, wait, I didn't--" The door closed behind him and she wasn't able to finish her whole sentence.

A moment later, Rafaela walked in the living room after taking a long bath. "Was that Raki that went out?"

"Yes, yes it was." Luciela replied, her voice sounded so far off.

"What's the matter, sis? You don't sound like yourself."

Luciela sighed dejectedly and sank into the sofa. "I've upset Raki and because of that, he left the house."

"What happen? Is this something that's got to do with earlier? Rafaela asked, and her sister nodded. "What did you do, exactly?"

"I thought I'd mess around with him a bit alright? This is what he's clearly upset about. You should know what it is." Luciela took out the folded letter and gave it to her.

A love letter? Rafaela's face was covered in astonishment. A moment later, she felt like being hit by full speed freight train. "Don't tell me you actually went and read it. You're absolutely horrible!"

"I didn't. I swear!" She honestly admitted. "I just wanted to see how he would react if I pretended, that's all."

"Well, congratulation, you succeeded in angrying my son, you idiot!" Rafaela glared at her sister "For whatever reason would you do this for? Is it so you could amuse yourself by hurting him like that?"

Luciela jumped up, eyes blazing. "Of course not! I never do such a thing!"

"Then why? Why are you so intent on being hard him and constantly pushing him in academics when he's already at the top of his class and doesn't even have the time to participate in any school activities?"

Luciela was silent for some time. "I may sound quite unfairly to you and Raki saying this but I do it because I have tremendous high hopes for him." She stated calmly. "And as funny as it may also sound, I personally believe he would make an outstanding CEO of some major company in the future."

"What are you talking about?" Rafaela asked dumbfoundedly, her anger suddenly vanishing away. "That's for him to decide on his own."

Rafaela's big sister chuckled, surprising her. "I guess you're right about that. But it's kind of hard to believe this coming from someone who was formerly the most feared leader of a ruthless female gang," Luciela said. "You're still a legend you know, Devil Queen Rafaela."

She smiled at Luciela's comment but sighed deeply as if she were depressed. "The name sure takes me back and fills my head with memories I'd rather forget. I sometimes can't believe it either, seeing how extremely lucky I am settling down like this and having a child like Raki was a wonderful experience for me. I don't want my son to know about my reckless teenage days but he will eventually."

"It's just ashame Raki never got a chance to know his father." Luciela said, frowning at her own words. "His father dying while he was still attending college. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to bring this up."

"I don't mind it but he does remind me a lot of his father though. Kind-hearted, gentle and caring." Rafaela started to reminisce about her husband. "I remember when I used to get into a lot of gang fights and Raki's father would come to the rescue and save my tail from getting arrested all the time."

Luciela laughed at this. "You sure were a wild one."

"Back then, seeing myself getting married was probably the last thing on my mind and never had I the slightest clue, I would marry someone like Raki's father. A total school boy with such an amazing grades. While I on the other hand; rude, arrogant, and most of all, short-tempered. At the time, I always believed I would be the girlfriend of some muscle head brute who is asscociated with bad shady people."

Rafaela heard her big sister laughing again and went on. "I admit I was pretty despicable and if I were to see my former self now, I would totally kicked her pathetic ass and set her straight."

"You don't have to be so hard on yourself. We all make mistakes and that's what being human is all about."

She nodded unhappily and looked at Luciela. "I still intend to make up for all those foolish mistakes I made in the past by being a good parent to Raki. I promised his father that I would."

Luciela took this in, then laughed warmly. "You're doing wonderfully, little sister. If it were me, it's obvious I would do a terrible job at being a parent."

"I couldn't agree more." They both exchanged looks and laughed.

"Thanks for the talk, sis. It sure has been awhile." Rafaela patted her sister on the shoulder. "When Raki gets back, please tell him that you're sorry, okay? I should punch you for what you did but I won't."

"Yeah, yeah. Consider it done." Luciela answered, not sounding too proud of herself.

"I'm going to go start on dinner." Rafaela exited the living room, and heading into the kitchen.

Luciela watched her younger sister turn and leave. For what it's worth, her doing what she did went surprisingly smooth. There was the sense of good prospect overshadowing the bad when the two siblings concluded their conversation. One was the opportunity to actually have a talk with Rafaela which occasionally happened. The second was, they were able to get a few things off their minds that were bottled up. And the bad... well it all had to happen on Raki's expense and she felt bad for putting him in the situation.

When he returns, she'll apologize to him because of her insensitivity and for being a complete bitch. But Luciela couldn't help acting that way, since it was in her nature. Besides, if you don't possess those kind of qualities in the business world in this day and age, it'll tear you all to shreds. However, if it's Raki, he just might prove her wrong someday.


	2. Chapter 2

**Claymore - Angelic days**

Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore and the characters in the story.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews Moonlith and Samurai89! It's much appreciated and I'll try my very best to keep this fic interesting. There are swear words here and there in this chapter, just a heads up for you awesome readers!

xXxXx

Chapter two

"Get her dammit! She's getting away!" A female voice shouted as a girl in schoolgirl uniform jumped and grabbed the ledge of a nine foot concrete wall, lifting herself up and easily clearing it. And landing on top of a parked truck, then successfully nailing a backwards flip to the ground. It only took a couple seconds and the girl was off running again, trying to lose her overly annoying pursuers.

"Why that no good for nothing bitch! She went over the concrete wall!" One of them yelled. "What now?!"

"Keep at her, don't let her escape!" The leader of the pursuers ordered. "She's gonna pay tenfold for what she did to Juliana and Zelda!"

"But Ophelia, that girl is already-"

"I said after her!" Ophelia grabbed the one that answered, her eyes glittering dangerously. "Or is this simple task too hard for you to accomplish, Eva?!"

"N-no, it's not." Eva whimpered.

"Then bring that pile of heap to me!"

"Yes, understood."

Eva and the others split up into two groups of three so they could have a better chance of intercepting the ever elusive girl. Ophelia stood angrily in the alley way, tapping her feet impatiently and looking on quite disgusted by the girls that were having a difficult time catching one single person.

"Just you wait, Clare." Ophelia said grinning, her eyes wide. "When I get my hands on you, I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

Her alertness instinctively kicked in and quickly spun around when she heard someone approaching her from behind and scowled at the poor bastard who interrupted her. "Hmph."

"Hey there, baby." The creepy intruder said. "What's your sweet self doing here all alone? It's dangerous here you know, because of scary guys like me roaming around these parts. But if you want, I could be your knight in shining armor but it's gonna cost y-"

In a blink of an eye, Ophelia abruptly cut off the pitiful man by planting the knuckles of her right fist at the base of his nose; breaking it and sending him flying into a pile of black trash bags. "I don't got time for piece of shits like you."

She nonchalantly stepped over the guy, fixing her hair while he laid on the ground unconscious and bleeding from the broken nose. Men like that should all disappear from the face of the earth, Ophelia mused to herself as she walked back out to the main street and went to the awaiting expensive looking car. "Let's go, Undine."

xXxXx

Today wasn't Clare's day as she ran for her dear life for the third time this week. She needed to get to the subway train if she wanted to lose them. Clare swiftly avoided all of the people that were in her way and skillfully slided down the steps by using the hand rail and the pay gate to the subway train was right in her sights.

She picked up more speed, knowing all too well, she wouldn't make it to the train if she suddenly stopped at the gate and paid. So Clare did the unthinkable and jumped over it like a hurdle runner, surprising the hell out of the gate employee and kept going as if nothing happened.

Clare sure was glad she was out of hearing range when the immensely pissed off employee unleashed a barrage of profane words at her scurrying form. She laughed out loud and gave the person her appreciation by flashing the 'one finger salute' and leaped in the subway train before the doors closed.

"Save!" She exclaimed by doing a 'save' motion like the umpires do in baseball.

A few seconds later as the train started to move, Clare saw her pursuers arrived at the platform but it was already too late to pursue. She managed to get away from the clutches of the Black Lotus gang once again. Clare laughed and pointed at them, making obscene gestures and pouting while she was waving bye-bye.

"Schmucks." Clare said quietly as she watched them go out of view. "You're not going to get me even if I'm at my worst day."

xXxXx

"Stupid Cid," Raki said softly in annoyance as he punched in his pin numbers at the convenience store register so he could purchase the energy drink, vitamin bottle water and some potato chips with his student check card. "Geez... he's always blabbering away about how very attractive my mom is and Aunt Lucy too. Why do I even bother visiting the guy?"

The purchase at the register was approved a moment later and he exited the convenience store with a single plastic bag in his hand and glanced at his watch. "It's probably time to head home for dinner. I wonder what we're having tonight?"

Raki broke into a jog, thinking about his Aunt Lucy and how awkward it'll be when it is dinner time. He could see it now, the two of them extremely quiet at the family dinner table while his mother's trying her hardest to start up a conversation about school or something. Poor mom. Raki went back to walking when he was a block away from home.

All of the sudden, a graphite color lexus sports car convertible pulled up next to him and the occupants of the vehicle quickly jumped out and surrounded him in an instant. Two flanked him and one was in the back of him, cutting off his escape route immediately and was left standing, facing the two that were still in the car.

"We're searching for someone." The woman in the passenger seat said. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a short-haired girl in a schoolgirl uniform around here you have?"

"No. I don't believe that I have." Raki answered after he thought about it. "Is she a friend of yours or something?"

Raki knew right away, this woman he was speaking to was the one that lead the group by how she talked and from the way she carried herself. Serious, intimidating, and business-like. She sort of reminded him of Aunt Lucy but this woman was still 100 years away of getting to her level. Yeah, Aunt Lucy was that scary.

"Hardly." The woman said in an under-tone. "She is someone who roughed up a couple of our friends and it would be rude of us if we didn't returned the favor. What is your name, by the way?"

"My name is Raki. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." He said, just being formal and didn't want to be on the bad side of hers if he wanted to get out of this peacefully. "How may be of assistance?"

"Raki huh? He's kind of cute," the one in the back commented.

Raki turned, curious to see who it was that said it and his heart lurched into his throat when he saw her. She was probably the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and not even Priscilla herself could compare. There was no contest, none at all.

"You just might be my type." The girl said as she got within a few inches from Raki's face. "And you smell good too. I could eat you up."

Raki swallowed. "Eh?"

"Can it Flora." The driver of the car said. "Must you flirt with every damn guy you see?"

"I do not flirt with every damn guy I see, Undine." Flora retorted, putting her hands on her hips defiantly. "Right, Ophelia?"

"Yes, you do." Undine came back. "It's starting to irritate the hell out of me."

"Enough you two!" Ophelia spoke up before Flora could reply. Her patience had ran thin while listening to them argue like idiots. "If you want to argue about something trivial as this, do it some other time." She let out a breath as if she gets tired of dealing with them. "Now, Raki, if you want to assist us like you say, call this number if you come across her and let's us know."

Raki took the piece of paper that had the phone number on it. "It seems like we can't find her today," He heard her say, the annoyance in her voice evident. "We haven't yet heard anything from the others too."

Whoever this person was, she had a knack of upsetting the wrong people by 'roughing up' a couple of their comrades like this 'Ophelia' lady said and must be good at fighting but her being in a schoolgirl uniform was a bit odd to him.

"Well, we've taken enough of your time so we'd best be going." Ophelia said not looking up.

"Aww. Do we have to?" Flora said, standing dangerously close to Raki and reluctantly pulled away. "That's just too bad. Another time, perhaps?"

Flora and the two that jumped out, got back in the car and took the seats in the back. Raki started to turn away, believing the conversation was over but Ophelia voice's stopped him. "Wait, hold on. Where do you live?"

"I live up a block from here." He pointed with his chin in the direction of his home. "I'm returning home after visiting a friend of mine."

She gave him a long, steady look as he smiled innocently at her. "Stay out of trouble, you hear?"

He complied with an understanding nod. "I will. Thanks."

Ophelia nodded, showing no emotion. "C'mon, let's get out of here," she said.

Before the car sped off, the girl who had taken a keen interest in him got he's attention. "Hey, Raki wasn't it? I'll be seeing you around," Flora said winking at him. "Bye!"

He watched them leave and managed to sigh in relief as he felt the heavy weight of uneasiness lifted from his shoulders. However, he sure was lucky that 'Flora' girl had an interest in him and smiled thoughtfully. "I guess it's sucks to be you, Cid. Missing the chance to have met a girl of her caliber."

Raki was brought back to reality when his mind reminded him of something important. Dinner time! Raki glanced at his watch again and grimanced, realizing he had two missed calls and remembered putting his ring tone on silent mode at school. He bolted for home and made it a minute.

Slowly and silently, he poked his head in at the front door. Thankfully, no one was around to notice and quietly closed the door and started for the dining room when someone spoke, startling him. "You're late."

He turn in the direction of the living room and saw Aunt Lucy; she wasn't looking too pleased. "Have a seat, Raki. I would like to have a talk with you for a bit. If you don't mind."

Even though, if he replied to her he'd mind, she would still have her way so there was no use fighting it. Raki sat on the sofa next to her. There was a long pause.

"Raki. I know that how I act and treat you may be difficult for you at times and may hate me for it-"

"I don't hate you, Aunt Lucy." He said quickly.

"Please, let me finish, okay?." Luciela said gently, putting a hand on his arm. "That's good. It does wonders for me, for you to say that. In this house, we all play a part. Like your mother for instant, she's loving, caring and very supportive of you and me. And you Raki, you're the one who keeps this place lively, brings joy and fills our hearts with happiness. This house wouldn't be as it is if you aren't here. As for me? My role is to be tough and protective one of you and your mother, just so the two of you don't slip up somewhere along the lines. I can also play any of the roles that the both of you possess but that's if it's only necessary.

Raki only nodded, understanding.

"I care and love you like you're my own son even if you're not but just being your Aunt is more than enough." Luciela fell silent for a moment. "I would like to say that I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier and I didn't read your letter if you're wondering. I only pretended to."

"I see." He smiled. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"Yes, you may."

"You have a very nice expensive house uptown, why do you not live there anymore?"

Luciela was deep in thought. "It's because that place feels lonely and empty. There's no one to greet you when you return from a hard day's work and it simply isn't home to me. I want to be at a place where there's a feeling of family and acceptance. And that special place is here with you and your mother."

"Can I have it when I get older?" He beamed, excited.

She glared at him. "You are still too young to be asking questions like that, brat."

Raki's face didn't change. "Aww, c'mon aunty, you're loaded. You could buy as many houses if you wanted to?"

"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that, McBrat." Luciela said, clearly annoyed. "Now go and have dinner, it's getting cold."

He took off to the dining room after he had been excused and Luciela looked at Raki's retreating form with a smirk on her face. The sense of satisfaction loomed over her completely or was that her sister?

"So, how was it?" Rafaela said, looming over her from nowhere. "Did it go well between you two?"

"He's such a good kid." Luciela said, in a thoughtful tone. "Hey, sis, can I adopt him?"

"No, you certainly can not!" Her little sister responded, throwing a fit. "Stupid."

"Tch." Luciela sighed in disappointment. "Well, it was worth a shot."

They were in the middle of dinner when Rafaela decided to start a conversation and looked over at her son who was too busy putting butter on the bread and Luciela was entertaing herself by putting a spoon on her nose, trying to make it stick and stopped when her sister saw her. Rafaela rolled her eyes at Luciela for being childish.

"Anything interesting happen today, Raki?" His mother asked kindly. "Other than what transpired here at home?" She gave her big sister a look. Luciela avoided Rafaela's eye contact and was suddenly interested in picking on the carrots in her salad.

"I met a really pretty girl today," He replied with a grin. "She told me I just might be her type."

"Oh? Did you hear that, Rafaela?" Luciela broke in sharply. "Sounds like your boy here, rebounded himself from today's travesty."

"And?" Rafaela replied, ignoring what her sister said and wanted her son to continue.

"Ah... " At the moment, Raki could not say what the 'Flora' girl had told him specifically but what the heck. "She commented that I smell good to her and wanted to eat me."

The two sisters stopped eating and looked up dumbfoundedly. "What?"

xXxXx

Somewhere in the city of Rabona; there was a three bedroom apartment that had numerous plushes lay waste on the bed and floor in one of the rooms, a girl suddenly sneezed. "Achoo!"

"Wha?! You just sneezed into my tempura udon soup, Flora!"

"Shut up, Queenie. You beeotch." She said, wiggling her nose. "There must be some cute handsome guy thinking about me, right about now."


	3. Chapter 3

**Claymore - Angelic days**

Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore and the characters in the story.

A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews you guys - Faded writer, Samurai89 and Moonlith. And I'm sorry for not updating my fic, I've been sorta busy as of late but I'm going to start updating it again. XD!! Read and review plz.

xXxXx

Chapter three

"Alright. C'mon ladies, hurry it up." The handsome looking man said as he watched the female students lazily stream in through the school gate. "The school bell is about to ring. Time waits for no one."

"Good morning, Isley-sensei!" A group of female students said together as they hurried pass him.

"Good morning to you too, girls." He politely replied back.

"Isley-sensei, you're hot! We love you!" One of them said and they all ran off giggling.

Isley merely shook his head and looked on after them as they, like experts, hastily made their exit. "Those girls... how troublesome," he said smiling.

"Aww, dammit! Not again!" A girl's frantic voice said. "It's almost time!"

"Huh?" Isley turned around, curious to see who said it and his composed face suddenly became distraught. "C-clare! What are you-! Slow down! No running! No running I said!"

"Get outta the way, sensei! I'm seriously running late!" Clare ran passed him, almost knocking him down. "Still daydreaming about Headmistress Teresa I see! Let me give you an advice and say, give it up because you got no chance!"

"Why that girl..." Isley muttered, watching her go around the corner and disappearing from his sight. "She's got no matters, whatsoever."

The school bell chimed.

"Oh. I better get going too." He realized. "My well-behaved students are awaiting for me to arrive."

xXxXx

"Pah!" Clare put down the empty glass bottle with a loud _thunk_, after she chugged her cold drink quickly. "That sure hits the spot!"

"Hey, Clare. Why are you always running late?" Her classmate Helen asked. "Ever heard of alarm clocks?"

"Ah, it's because I do alot of running in the morning... with training and stuff." She laughed nervously, knowing Helen wasn't buying it. "Cuz I'm thinking of joining track and field."

"Hmm?" Helen studied her for a bit, then took a bite of the apple in her hand. "Oh, really?"

"Y-yes, I am."

"But isn't it already too late to be joining any sports activites?"

"Oh... ah... yes, I'm like training for next year," Clare laughed lightly.

"Hmm? Are you now?" Helen said, her eyes studying Clare's face with an uncomfortable intensity. "What do you think Deneve? You think she's hiding something important from us? Maybe she nab herself a boyfriend?"

"Just let it be, Helen." Deneve said, not really interested in the topic. "It's obvious that she found herself a male companion."

"My thought exactly," Helen agreed by nodding, then playfully tears up. "To think that our Clare would suddenly grow up right before our very eyes and suddenly leave us behind to suffer... it's just too tragic."

"Wha? Ah, no, it's nothing like that you two," Clare put her hands in front of her and answered honestly. "And stop making stuff up, Helen. It's just like the time when you spread false rumors of me that I could easily defeat Rigardo-sensei in a kendo match. It's because of that, Rigardo-sensei would request a match with me whenever he gets the chance and I don't even know how do to kendo for god's sake."

Helen laughed loudly. "Sorry, sorry, but it's quite hilarious when you think about it."

"I mean, really, I have to run away or hide whenever he's around." Clare sighed dejectedly and put her head on the desk. "Anyways, I'm quite hungry right now."

Helen put her half eaten apple in front of her and grinned.

"Very funny," Clare said, not looking up.

xXxXx

The house was quiet. Raki had already left for school two hours ago and Luciela too, had gone to work. So the only one left at home was Rafaela and she wasn't going anywhere today. But that didn't mean she didn't have a job. Rafaela was the proud owner of a thriving flower boutique shop near a couple luxurious hotel resorts downtown. Her assistants Sophia and Noel were taking care of the place in her stay, however, the two always fought over such trivial matters and were somewhat competitive against each other.

Well, enough about them, she thought to herself and continued doing the cleaning and house chores. As Rafaela was vacuuming the upstairs hallway, she went by Raki's room and stopped. She turned and stared at the door for a moment. It's been awhile, over a year to be exact that she'd been in his room. She always gave her son his own privacy and never doubted him about anything.

Rafaela gulped as she reached for the door knob and gently opened it. "I'm coming in," she announced herself, even though Raki wasn't in his room. She looked around curiously and was surprise to see it was clean and well organized. The walls were quite plain, not a single poster was up there except for a calendar but that didn't really count.

She sighed a little in disappointment. As a mother, she was hoping she would find some dirty magazines or something of that nature hidden somewhere. Rafaela directed her attention to the bed. It was neatly tucked in and had to admit that her son's bed was well-made. Much better than hers. You could probably bounce a super ball off of it.

But Rafaela was determined to find something and was 'at this very moment' going to take a peek under the mattress because Luciela once told her, teenage boys often hid their magazines there. She exhaled slowly, mentally preparing herself for what she would find and lifted the mattress but to her dismay she found... nothing! She blinked in puzzlement. _What was up with that?! _Even Rafaela, in her younger days was in possession one or two... okay, okay, maybe three dirty magazines but those definitely weren't hers! Honest! It was because of her female gang members were passing them around as a funny prank; so as the leader of the group, she didn't have any other choice but to step in and confiscate them.

"What I'm I doing?" Rafaela asked herself and remade the bed like it normally was. "Snooping around in my son's room, how low of me."

Rafaela closed the door behind her and was about to restart the vacuum cleaner when she heard the doorbell ring. She stopped what she was doing and answered the door. Two tall ladies, stood at the front door's entrance. Rafaela's eyes became wide and her jaw dropped a bit when she recognized her two visitors.

"Irene! Galatea! What? What brings you here?" She happily greeted her former gang members by hugging them. "It's so good to see you two!"

"It's good to see you too, Ralph." Irene said with a big smile of her own.

"Aww... don't call me that," Rafaela playfully hit Irene's arm. "Come on in, you two." She lead them, into the living room.

"You look astonishing as always, leader." It was now, Galatea's turn to her greet. "We've both missed you, greatly."

"That's so nice of you, Galatea," she replied, very touched by her kind words. "You've turned into quite a beauty yourself. So who's the lucky guy?"

Galatea blushed slightly. "There's no one yet."

Irene softly kicked Galatea's right shin and she yelped. "That's because your standards on men are ridiculously high."

"Sorry. But I can't help it."

"And how about you, Irene?" Rafaela asked her out of curiosity.

"I don't have one either, unfortunately."

"..."

"..."

"Speaking of guys, how's your son Raki doing? I bet he became quite handsome by now." Galatea questioned.

"I would like to know that too," Irene said, glad to be off the topic of men. "The last time I saw him in person was five years ago."

"Ah, yes. My pride and joy," Rafaela said thoughtfully. "Raki's currently attending Rabona High and is at the top of his freshman class. He's gotten much taller these past years and handsomer."

"I'm sure he'll be quite a ladies man someday." Irene replied and they all chuckled. "How about your older sister, Luciela? Is she doing well?"

"You know how my older sister is. She's tough as nails and always excels in what she does," she responded. Irene and Galatea both nodded understandingly. "Oh. I'm sorry. I'll go make some hot tea and bring over some of the cookies I made yesterday."

"That'd be nice." Irene said smiling once more. "Thank you."

Rafaela left her best friends in the living room while she went to the kitchen to prepare some hot tea and get a plate of cookies she baked yesterday. _This was unbelievable!_ She was very excited to see them again; Irene and Galatea - her number 1 and 2 in her once ruthless female gang. Those two were fierce and merciless in gang fights and always showed their undying loyalty to her.

She returned to the living room and set the tea and cookies on the coffee table. "So how's the fashion business? With the both of you, being partners in fashion world and all."

"It's been going real smoothly," Galatea said, taking a sip of her tea. "We'll be releasing some new clothing designs in a month or so."

"That's amazing," Rafaela said astounded. "You're both so very talented."

"Rafaela." Irene put her cup of tea down and gave her a serious expression. "We didn't come here to visit you so that we could talk about our careers back home but we came here to inform you about something very important."

"Oh. What is it?"

"There's been rumors going around... " Irene said at first and went on. "That Riful of the West is returning to Rabona. For whatever reason? I sincerely don't know."

She and Galatea watched Rafaela's face harden. "What... ? You mind saying that again?"

Irene forced herself to take a deep breath and choose her words with caution. "It seems Riful is planning on returning to Rabona. She might be already in the city as we speak."

Rafaela's personality suddenly changed after hearing Irene say 'Riful of the West.' That horrible woman was her most hated enemy. Riful was the one responsible for taking her dear love away. She and her gang of men murdered her poor defenseless husband. Rafaela couldn't really prove it was Riful and her lackeys at the time because there weren't enough solid evidence to send them faraway for their crime.

"I see." Rafaela said in a toneless voice. "Hey..."

"Yes?"

"Can you guys stay for the night?"

"It'll be an honor. Anything for you, Rafaela."

"Thanks." She replied and smiled dimly. "Thanks so much."


	4. Chapter 4

**Claymore - Angelic days**

Disclaimer: I do not own Claymore and the characters in the story.

A/N: I'm back with chapter 4 everyone! Like always, thank so much for the wonderful reviews - Shiek927, Moonlith, Faded Writer, Samurai89, SM02 and LangRabbit! It's because of reviews like yours that keeps me going. Please read and review~ :3

xXxXx

Chapter four

There was no hint of emotion from Gaheh.

A prickle of fear ran up the back of Zalt's arms and then down his spine. He shivered internally, while he waited patiencely. In Gaheh's hands, he held the newly developed photos Zalt had given him. The photos were taken the day before under the direct orders of Riful herself. As Riful's right-hand man and enforcer, it was Gaheh's solemn duty to see it all through so that her orders are carried out in a swift orderly matter.

Riful of the West.

It was a name that struck fear into the hearts of her enemies. Mainly because she was explicitly intelligent and extremely dangerous when it came to hand to hand combat, even in her, in some degree petite form. Many paid dearly by underestimating her smarts and fighting abilites. Within her, she held alot of pride and would tolerate nothing less than immediate success from her underlings when they did her bidding.

"Is this it?" Gaheh said, after he finished looking through it.

"Yes." Zalt answered quickly. "Unless, you want me to take some more?"

"There's no need," he said turning away from Zalt. "For now, you're excused and I will give these to Riful."

"Of course!" he replied, very much relieved. "Understood."

"One other thing," Gaheh stopped him before he could leave. "I want you to continue monitoring these individuals and let me know if something interesting happens."

"It will be done, Gaheh," Zalt nodded in compliance. "I haven't failed you, have I?"

"No, you haven't fail me yet," he told him straightly. "But don't let that get to your head."

"It sure won't," Zalt said proudly. "You have my word."

"Good. Because if you do fail," he towered over him menacingly. "You'll be reporting to Riful personally."

Gaheh went to the door that lead into the hallway and exited, leaving his words of warning to Zalt's attention. Right now, he had an audience with Riful and didn't want to keep her waiting. He walked down the hallway and came up to an elevator. He then swiped his pass card and punched in his code and the door opened. After entering, Gaheh pushed a button that would take him to the very bottom floor of the building. The door opened for him when the elevator reached its destination.

Up ahead there was another door and he gently opened it. In the seemingly elongated room, it was completely dark as a lone light flickered weakly from above and it wasn't enough to partially lit parts of the room. Gaheh stopped halfway when he saw something familiar in the dark and smiled. To the untrained eye, a person would totally miss seeing it from this distance but not him. Before him stood two figures, guarding the final passage leading to Riful. Both of them looked very much like two guardian statues guarding a tomb in a dark abyss.

He flick his lighter to life and looked from one to the other of them. "Alicia. Beth."

Alicia stepped forward. "Riful is expecting you, Gaheh," she said in a cool voice.

"Indeed she is," he said as Beth joined her twin sister. "How are things, training well?"

The two nodded together in response.

"That's wonderful," he replied, sounding very impressed. "Since that I'm here, you two can take your leave and do some more training in the dungeon."

"Yes, sir," they said obediently. "We'll take our leave then."

Gaheh waited until the sisters left the poorly lit dark room by using the same entrance he came in from. _Alicia and Beth_, he thought. They were also known as "The Black Ones," who were gifted apprentices of Riful and were just as dangerous as him. The two of them could hold their own when fighting a strong fighter but what you really didn't want, was them fighting an opponent together. The sisters were even more dangerous when they fought together.

Another hallway greeted him as he finally made his way to Riful's personal room. He opened the door and walked into the room. A pleasant scent of aroma filled his nostrils and saw several placed scented candles burning. Studying his surroundings more, he noticed antique funitures and artistic paintings populated the large and spacious room. The faint sound of opera music playing made him look farther back and located Riful sitting in a comfortable chair, reading a book.

Seeing him approach, Riful closed the book and placed it on the table beside her. "Gaheh, you have something for me?" She was wearing her favorite white dress, he noted. The only time she wears it is when something wondrous is about to happen. Her eyes gleamed in anticipation as she accepted the photos from him. That beautiful face of hers burst into laughter as she looked through it.

"Look what we have here," Riful joyously commented. "The so called infamous trio are back together once again. Oh my, oh my, what a truly delightful pictures these are." She suddenly stopped flickering through the photos when she came upon a certain photo that caught her eye. "This boy..." she said, lifting it up for him to see. "Who is this boy?"

He stood next to her and looked at it. "Our sources confirms that he's the son of-"

"Rafaela," she broke in surprisingly.

"Correct," he answered. "His name is Raki, a freshman at Rabona High."

Riful frowned. Seeing it now, she'd forgotten Rafaela had a child more than ten years ago. The boy name Raki did resemble his mother and had a smile that could probably light up a whole room. She put the photos back in the yellow envelope and put it aside. It took a moment to gather all her thoughts and turned to Gaheh. "What orders have you issued out?"

"I've already sent Zalt back, so he could continue monitoring Rafaela and the others."

She couldn't help but smile. "Perfect. That should be enough for now. With Irene and Galatea arriving, Rafaela must already know of my presence within the city." Riful leaned forward, forearms on her knees and hands clapped. "I want to carry out my moves very steadily and don't want them acting jumpy way too early."

"And the boy?"

He heard her chuckled ever so slightly, "He'd make a useful bargaining chip if things don't go according to plan." Riful rose from her chair and Gaheh moved back respectfully. She strode to the music player and selected a different song in the playlist. "Where are Alicia and Beth?"

"They're busy training," he said, glancing up at an astounding painting.

"Excellent," she mused, clearly delighted. "Because I'm going to need all the help I can get to make this work. Rafaela may not look it but she is quite cunning and not to be taken lightly either." Riful stood beside him and followed his gaze to where the elegant painting was. "But the one I'm most concern of isn't Rafaela, no, it is her sister Luciela. She will be the one most formiable. It will take alot of effort but I am confident that I will be the complete victor in the end."

xXxXx

On his way home, Raki ran into Sophia and Noel. He enjoyed talking to the good spirited pair, simply because they didn't regard him as their boss's son but as a friend. All of them shared similar interests which varied from music, sports and video gaming. Sophia and Noel more importantly, taught boxing classes during the weekends and had given Raki beyond the basic material knowledge of boxing and training, which his mother willingly kept a tight secret from her sister. Lord knows what his aunt would think if she found out. Luciela's expectations for him was to strive to achieve high academic standards through hard work and commitment.

"Remember to keep practicing your skills by doing shadowboxing daily," Noel instructed Raki. "That way, you'll instinctively train your body, what to do when a tough situation suddenly arises like defending yourself in a fight."

Sophia smiled sweetly at him. "Listen to Noel, Raki. These are important."

"I sure will," he said briskly. "If I didn't I'd be disobeying you, right?"

"Now that's a great answer from a good student," Noel complimented as Sophia giggled. "Okay, what's the other important thing?"

"Aww, do I have to say it everytime?" Raki protested.

"Say it," Noel said by pointing at him, "or I'll give you an even harsher assignment unlike the one I gave you."

With a sigh of defeat, he put his hand over his heart and repeated the same sentence she drilled into his head. "As a student of the lovely Noel and Sophia, I swear my talents, skills and knowledge will not be used to harm others..." he paused, "unless they're some psychopath chasing after you with a chainsaw."

"Hmm, good," Noel nodded approvingly.

"What is it with you and psychopath's with chainsaws?" Sophia asked her, trying not to laugh.

"Because they're scary," Noel admitted.

"You play too much horror oriented video games."

"But what about you, Sophia? You're terrified of clowns!" Noel accused. "Clowns!"

"Evil... clowns," she corrected, stretching each of the words. "There is a differences between regular clowns and evil clowns."

Noel snorted. "Yeah, sure, whatever you say."

These two were more than capable enough to keep arguing til the day hell freezes over. As much as he love hanging out with Sophia and Noel, he had to go home unfortunately. They said their goodbyes and they departed ways. Upon arriving home, Raki noticed a very nice looking car he's never seen before parked right next to his mother's car in the driveway. He looked at the house, then back at the car and shrugged. _Looks like we have company_, he thought as he entered the house.

He heard people talking in the living room. Raki cautiously peeked into the room and saw two beautiful women sitting on the couch, having a conversation with his mother. One of them took a curious glance in his direction and blinked. "Ah. It seems like we have another visitor."

All of the women were looking his way now as he stepped out into the open.

"Raki!" Rafaela rushed over to him with a worried expression. "Are you alright? Y-you didn't run into anyone strange, have you?"

When she asked him that last question about 'running into anyone strange', he unknowingly materialized an image of Noel and Sophia's silly and outgoing faces in his mind. His mother bit her lower lips and waited for him to answer. "Mom, I'm fine. I didn't run into anyone like that."

She smiled, relieved and lovingly kissed him on the forehead. "That's good to hear."

"What's wrong," he asked, a little confused. "And who are they?"

"Do you still remember these two lovely ladies, Raki? You've met them before." She said turning to them as they stood up. "These two are my best friends, Irene and Galatea."

"N-nice to meet to you," he said shyly, "I'm Raki."

Irene smiled kindly and shook his hand. "It's an honor to meet you again, Raki. I see you've gotten so much handsomer."

He blushed profusely. "T-thank you."

"You look great like I thought you would." Galatea offered him a charming smile and also shook his hand. "I'm the one who took you to the amusement park on your seventh birthday, remember? You told me you'd marry me when you got older?"

Rafaela and Irene both cast an 'out of this world' shock expression at Galatea.

"W-what? I... I did?!" Raki's face turned beet red from embarrassment.

"It's true," Galatea said, smiling with genuine amusement. "Are you a man of your word? By keeping that promise you made with me, Raki?"

"I don't recall s-saying that," he shook his head vigorously. "I'm really sorry, ma'am!"

She playfully look hurt. "Aww, you don't... remember it at all?"

"I'm really, really, sorry. I... even if I could," he quickly looked at his mother, then back to Galatea. "I just simply can't. I'm very sorry."

The room fell silent for a short moment.

"It's okay, Raki. I forgive you." She said, reminiscing back to that day. "At least you had the courage to say what you thought, just like how a real man should be. The girl you do marry someday, is going to be one lucky person."

Even though she was twenty three years old at the time, Galatea remembers it like it was yesterday. It wasn't something she'd easily forget. During the time, Rafaela and Luciela were busy taking care of some urgent matters at home when she visited. Little Raki was unhappy because it being his birthday that day. So Galatea took it upon herself and took him to an amusement park with his mother's permission of course.

He was absolutely overjoyed and thankful to Galatea. She still remembers him having a fantastic time. _The best birthday ever!_ Is what he said to her when they were leaving the amusement park. She even recalls the moment when he suddenly spun around and confessed innocently. _Miss Galatea, when I grow up I'm going to marry you! I promise!_ She was taken aback at first because no one has ever said that to her before. Whether he denies it or not, Raki's marriage confession when he was seven will always be her first.


End file.
